Colorado State gets shot of confidence in loss at Alabama

Sep. 22, 2013

CSU cornerback Bernard Blake breaks up a pass intended for Alabama receiver Kenny Bell during the fourth quarter of Saturday night's game in Tuscaloosa, Ala. CSU lost to the top-ranked Crimson Tide 31-6 in a game closer than the score suggests. / John David Mercer/USA Today Sports

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Sure, the Rams (1-3) were disappointed with their latest setback — their 13th loss in 18 games under second-year coach Jim McElwain. But they had just played the best team in the country, two-time defending national champion and top-ranked Alabama before a sellout crowd of 101,821 at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and legitimately competed with them.

Two late touchdowns by the Crimson Tide (3-0), the first set up by a fumble recovery at the Rams’ 30-yard line, made the score a lot more lopsided than the game was.

“A loss is a loss, and that’s not something we’re happy about,” senior center Weston Richburg said. “But the positive thing you can take away from this is the confidence we’ve gained playing against the top team in the nation, being able to say we held our own, and that’s exciting going into the rest of the season.”

And it’s safe to say the Rams won’t face another team of Alabama’s caliber again this year. CSU wraps up non-conference play with a home game 1:30 p.m. Saturday against UTEP (1-2), then has a weekend off before starting Mountain West Conference play at home Oct. 12 against San Jose State. The Rams don’t have to face the MW’s top team this season, Fresno State, in the league’s new two-division format, and they get Mountain Division favorite Boise State at home.

The Rams held the Crimson Tide’s powerful offense to just 66 rushing yards, its lowest output since an Oct. 9, 2010, game at South Carolina. Alabama failed on its first eight third-down conversions and finished just 2 for 10. The Rams sacked quarterback AJ McCarron twice, forced him to rush three other throws that fell incomplete and intercepted him once. Only two Alabama drives went for more than 46 yards.

After giving up an average of 42 points a game in losses to the University of Colorado and Tulsa and a win over Cal Poly, the Rams limited Alabama to 31 points and 338 yards of total offense — 49 yards below its average.

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CSU wasn’t as effective on offense, managing just 51 rushing yards, 279 total yards and six points on a pair of field goals by kicker Jared Roberts. But the Rams didn’t crumble, either, against the Tide’s vaunted defense. At the end of the third quarter, the Rams trailed just 17-6 and had only 21 fewer yards of offense (227) than Alabama (248).

“They had some really good players,” Richburg said.

The Rams had some flaws exposed they’ll need to work on, including a breakdown in punt protecting that allowed Alabama to score a touchdown on a punt block.

Ultimately, though, the Rams got a lot more than a $1.5 million payday out of this one. As McElwain had hoped, they got a good gauge of how their program stacks up against the game’s best. And they learned they’re a lot closer than most people thought.

It was a valuable dose of confidence at a critical time.

“I think we grew up a lot today,” senior linebacker Shaquil Barrett said. “… I feel as though this will help our season out a lot and people will know that we are capable of playing good, playing good defensively and moving the ball offensively.

“We’ve just got to manage penalties and small mistakes out there, and we’ll be a great team.”